Lead Zirconate Titanate Transducers Embedded in Composite Laminates: The Influence of the Integration Method on Ultrasound Transduction.

In the context of an embedded structural health monitoring (SHM) system, two methods of transducer integration into the core of a laminate carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) are tested: cut-out and between two plies. This study focuses on the effect of integration methods on Lamb wave generation. For this purpose, plates with an embedded lead zirconate titanate (PZT) transducer are cured in an autoclave. The embedded PZT insulation, integrity, and ability to generate Lamb waves are checked with electromechanical impedance, X-rays, and laser Doppler vibrometry (LDV) measurements. Lamb wave dispersion curves are computed by LDV using two-dimensional fast Fourier transform (Bi-FFT) to study the quasi-antisymmetric mode (qA0) excitability in generation with the embedded PZT in the frequency range of 30 to 200 kHz. The embedded PZT is able to generate Lamb waves, which validate the integration procedure. The first minimum frequency of the embedded PZT shifts to lower frequencies and its amplitude is reduced compared to a surface-mounted PZT.

Multichannel Multiple Signal Classification for dispersion curves extraction of ultrasonic guided waves.

Multichannel acquisition of ultrasonic guided waves can be used to extract dispersion curves, from the time-position domain (t-x) to the frequency-wavenumber (f-k), or frequency-velocity domain (f-c). Accurate measurements are needed in order to be able to precisely characterize the specimen, by improving the extraction of low amplitude modes and enhance resolution. The proposed method is based on the MUltiple SIgnal Classification algorithm combined with a multi-emitter and multi-receiver acquisition. In this work, this method is applied on experimental data to extract dispersive information from multilayered bonded specimens.

A0 mode interaction with a plate free edge: theory and experiments at very low frequency by thickness product.

When a plane acoustic wave reaches a medium with an impedance infinite or null, it experiences a phase shift of zero or pi and its amplitude on the edge is maximum or vanishes. The case of a flexion wave (A0 Lamb wave) at a free end is also simple; its amplitude is multiplied by a factor 2 square root 2 and the phase shift is pi/2. The evanescent wave at the origin of these phenomena, perfectly described by the classical flexural plate theory, is identified as the imaginary A1 mode of the exact Rayleigh-Lamb theory. The experiences confirm the theoretical predictions.

Acoustic impact localization in plates: properties and stability to temperature variation.

Localizing an impact generated by a simple finger knock on plate-shaped solid objects is made possible in an acoustic time reversal experiment. It is shown that the technique works with a single accelerometer. To better understand the phenomenon and to know exactly the nature of the created waves, a two-dimensional (2-D) elastic simulation is used, showing that in a very good approximation the A0 Lamb mode is the only propagating one. However, it is shown that, within one wavelength distance from the edges, evanescent waves must be taken into account. As a first consequence, the ability to distinguish two neighboring impacts improves when the plate thickness decreases and the frequency increases. As a second consequence, it is expected theoretically that temperature variations lead to a stretching or a contraction of acoustic signatures. The experimental demonstration used a heterodyne interferometer to measure the impulse responses created by a knock on a plate during the cooling. A simple algorithm is shown to perfectly compensate for temperature impacts, which demonstrates the feasibility of the technique for outdoor time reversal interactive experiments.

Time reversal of noise sources in a reverberation room.

Usually, time reversal is studied with pulsed emissions. Here, the properties of time reversal of the acoustic field emitted by noise sources in a reverberation room are studied numerically, theoretically, and experimentally. A time domain numerical simulation of a two-dimensional enclosure shows that the intensity of a time-reversed noise is strongly enhanced right on the initial source position. A theory based on the link that exists between time reversal of noise and the "well-known" time reversal of short pulse is developed. One infers that the focal spot size equals half a wavelength and the signal to noise ratio only depends on the number of transceivers in the time reversal mirror. This last property is characteristic of the time reversal of noise. Experimental results are obtained in a 5 X 3 X 3 m3 reverberation room. The working frequency range varies from 300 Hz to 2 kHz. The ability of the time reversal process to physically reconstruct the image of two noise sources is studied. To this end, care is given to the technique to separate two close random sources, and also to the influence of temperature fluctuations on the focusing quality.